Around here, men in white vans are more likely to try and sell you a stolen surround sound system or stolen power tools than snatch a kid. Saying that, there was a report the other day in the news of a guy in a van trying to snatch a child not too far from my house.

Somebody apparently attempted to abduct a kid in Wichita, KS about a week ago by luring her near his vehicle with candy. Not a white van, but "a black pickup, possibly a Chevrolet, with red stripes, tinted windows and two large antennas."

Is that what "white van man" means in the USA? In the UK it's just a small tradesperson who probably cuts you up in traffic while reading The Sun.

Speaking of alternative meanings for the same term: "small tradesperson who probably cuts you up" to me seems to describe somebody who attacks you with a knife. I'm guessing getting "cut up in traffic" means having another vehicle that's slightly ahead and to the side of you move directly in front of you, forcing you to brake. But I'd honestly never encountered that form of the phrase. Usually around here people say "cut off in traffic," which actually sounds even more gruesome.

I think that the legend probably arose because it seems that the majority of commercial vans, especially the kind with no windows at all, are most often white. That type of van would also be perfect for staging a kidnapping. Large entryway, windowless cargo area, large enough for the kidnapper to enter with the victim to restrain, etc.

Is that what "white van man" means in the USA? In the UK it's just a small tradesperson who probably cuts you up in traffic while reading The Sun.

White van man (a tradesperson) is such a common stereotype in the UK that a Ford Transit TV ad used white van man images and a Slade soundtrack and showed white vans on a motorway equating to the spine (as in vital nervous system) of Britain.

Cat-stealing by people in small "light-colour" vans is often reported in this area. I always dismissed it as a myth until a friend saw one of her cats claw free of a person who'd grabbed it and was getting into a light coloured van (Astra type). She lost a couple of her other cats at the same time, believed to be to the same people (it was reported to local police)

I've seen a few people with the user-name 'whitevanman' online. I'm just wondering what various Americans must be thinking. (Or possibly they were American and I had the wrong end of the stick)

I was a "white van gal" here at work, because I helped some colleagues move from one flat to another, or pick up furniture/appliances, and they hadn't held a licence long enough to hire a van. So I did the van-driving for them

I was a "white van gal" here at work, because I helped some colleagues move from one flat to another, or pick up furniture/appliances, and they hadn't held a licence long enough to hire a van. So I did the van-driving for them

Cat-stealing by people in small "light-colour" vans is often reported in this area. I always dismissed it as a myth until a friend saw one of her cats claw free of a person who'd grabbed it and was getting into a light coloured van (Astra type). She lost a couple of her other cats at the same time, believed to be to the same people (it was reported to local police)

How does one get one's house on the route of this most sanguinary service?

Or a legitimately obtained, cheap, crappy sound system that buyers mistakenly assume is stolen and therefore must be an expensive, high quality one.

When someone's offering new Arcam kit (or other top-of-the-range name) from the back of a van very cheap, it's very obviously stolen or counterfeit. The Arcam amp I coveted cost more than my entire rack system hi-fi (none of which was a cheapo brand).

When someone's offering new Arcam kit (or other top-of-the-range name) from the back of a van very cheap, it's very obviously stolen or counterfeit.

And when someone's offering a cheap, non-top-of-the-range sound system out of the back of a van, they're often expecting that ignorant buyers will assume it's a stolen, valuable, high-quality one and pay accordingly -- a rip-off that has the added bonus of not being (as) illegal as selling actual stolen goods is.